Educational Advantages of Union City High School, 1900

By Miss Anna RockwoodWe have no authentic history as to the efforts of early settlers to secure educational advantages for their children. The first schools were probably supported by subscription and kept in private houses. The first school house of which there is any reliable record was one built of planks sometime previous to eighteen hundred thirty four which stood not far from the Methodist Church, and was used for all public gatherings whether of a religious or political character. There is a record of another school held in the house now owned by Dr. Read, but whether it was to accommodate the overflow from the other building or for the convenience of the families living on the south side of the creek, it is impossible to say.As the town increased in population the need became urgent for better school facilities and a small frame building was erected on the present north school grounds close to Main Street. In after years this building was replaced by a larger one consisting of a main room and a small recitation room which stood on the ground now used by the high school.Later, to meet the needs of the growing town, a two story front was added, thus making five rooms. Still later, the crowded conditions of the school caused a great deal of agitation concerning the necessity of a new building. Not being able to agree as to the location it was finally decided to erect the present brick building on the hill, which was done about 1870. A still increasing population and the inauguration of a high school necessitated still further additions which were accomplished by removing the one story wing of the north building and adding the two story wing which is now occupied by the high school.The next step in expansion was the occupation of the basement of the United Brethren Church by a primary room in 1894 and two years later, the Methodist Church opened its doors to accommodate the children of that locality. The next year the sound of the hammer and saw was to be heard in the land and the north building stretched its wing still farther eastward. Again arose the cry for “more room,” and the Methodist Church opened its doors still further and admitted another army of children. Still the cry “more room” is heard in the air and to supply the needs, two buildings are to be erected during the summer, on either extremity of the town.With the growth of the schools came the demand for improved methods, better facilities and trained teachers.If it were in our power to inquire into the aspirations and attainments of the long list of teachers from the first master down to our present faculty, doubtless we should find many incompetent ones, but of those who care for the welfare of the pupils physically, intellectually and morally there would be a far greater number. Of the qualifications of the present corps of teachers it is needless to speak. You are too well acquainted with them all to make it necessary for me to discuss their good qualities.The high school offers two courses of study – the English and the Classical-both of which confer a practical education. The former is designed for those who wish to give more attention to scientific study, but the latter is no less practical since, in addition, it prepares the student to enter the freshman class of our best colleges. The high school library, numbering nearly six hundred volumes, ranks with the best in this part of the country. The laboratory work is as extensive as possible with the little room that can spared for it.Comparing our high school with others we are proud to be able to say that it is registered by the New York Regent which admits the student passing its examinations to any college without further text of qualification. But as we as proud of the buildings in which this work is done? Does it compare as favorably with the buildings of other high schools of even a lower standing?The laws of hygiene require every hour 13,000 cubic feet of pure air for an adult. The main room of the high school has a breathing capacity of 9,000 cubic feet. In accordance with the law just mentioned it will be readily seen that the high school room contains only enough pure air to last three person an hour, whereas it is made to accommodate over sixty pupils for a much longer time. To be sure the room can be easily ventilated by opening its seven windows and while those who sit near them are in the enjoyment of fierce ague chills, others are having the pleasurable sensations of burning fever. We have heard that sickness has been caused by this kind of ventilation; that is simply a fabrication of the city physician.A time is coming, and is not far distance when a school building shall arise which shall not only afford ample accommodations for the high school work in all its departments, but will provide a room for each of the other grades furnished with the latest approved heating and ventilation facilities; a building in connection with which there shall be a basement which may be used for shelter in stormy weather; a building which shall supply a cloak room and toilet accommodations where the wet and frozen wraps can be dried and warmed and the children can be taught that cleanliness is a part of a good education. Such a building will be the pride of the community; such a building will bring to our growing town a class of people who desire the best educational advantages for their children; of such a building we shall not fear to have it said of the old one by the superintendent of a neighboring city, “Your high school building is a good specimen of a rat trap!”